The Happytime Murders (2018)

The Happytime Murders (2018)

2

It’s been an hour since I saw The Happytime Murders, and I’m still trying to decide what this movie is. It’s not a particularly good buddy-cop movie, nor a memorable Muppet film. It didn’t feel like a Melissa McCarthy flick, and it doesn’t tell an interesting story. As far as I can fathom, this is a film based on a single joke—Muppets doing R rated things.

Now, Muppets doing R rated things, as ideas go isn’t a terrible one. I did laugh, twice. Once during Phil Phillips (Bill Barretta as the puppet P.I.) visit to the sex shop, and again when Phil’s liaison with his client, Sandra (Dorien Davies) reaches its explosive climax (it’s in the Red Band trailer). The rest of the time, however, I got very little entertainment value out of this.

Staring into the dead unmoving eyes of Phil Phillips during any of the film’s many straight moments, just felt wrong to me. Was I supposed to feel for the felt? Sympathize with the reticulated polyfoam? I think not. The story barely reaches the heights of a trashy detective novel, and is incredibly predictable.

I think in the case of this movie; the trailer says it all. If it looks like fun to you then by all means go see it. This is unapologetic lowbrow humor that isn’t trying to attach any deeper meaning to the proceedings. No allegory, no metaphor, it does what the packaging says. I’ll leave it to you to discover if ninety minutes worth of dick jokes, sexual innuendo, and Muppet violence was worth your valuable time.